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Ombudsman slams cop probe into taser death

The NSW ombudsman has criticised a police investigation into the death of a Brazilian student who was tasered 14 times, saying it failed to deal with the issue of police misconduct.

Roberto Laudisio Curti, 21, died in the early hours of March 18 after officers used capsicum spray, handcuffs and a baton and knelt on him after a chase through Sydney's CBD.

NSW Coroner Mary Jerram handed down a scathing finding into the incident in November, calling the officers who tasered him 14 times "thuggish" and rejecting some of their evidence.

She also recommended disciplinary charges for five of the officers involved.

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NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour on Thursday tabled a special report in parliament about the police investigation in the lead-up to the coronial inquest.

"(It) failed to adequately identify and deal with the question of whether there was any police misconduct," Mr Barbour said in a statement.

The investigators failed to comply with established police procedures for conducting critical incident investigations or effectively examine the lawfulness of the officers involved, the report said.

It made a number of recommendations aimed at strengthening police guidelines so that all relevant evidence is gathered during future critical incident investigations.

Mr Barbour said it should be clear that "any identified misconduct or systemic issues can and should be addressed at the earliest opportunity".

He also recommended that a mandatory notification scheme be introduced, requiring police to immediately notify his office of all incidents involving the death or serious injury of people during policing activities.

Currently they can only do so if a complaint is made.

"The scheme would also require my office to determine whether it is in the public interest to oversight the police investigation," Mr Barbour added.

The coronial inquest found that Mr Curti, from Sao Paolo, had an adverse reaction to a small dose of LSD before stealing biscuits from a convenience store, where police mistakenly believed he was armed.

Ms Jerram found officers then used excessive force in abuse of their powers.

Following the damning findings, the NSW Police Integrity Commission announced it would investigate whether the police were involved in criminal conduct.